The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens

 

Hana Babic lives a quiet life.  She is a librarian in a small town, a middle-aged woman who is pleasant to everyone but close to none.  She lives by herself in the country where she keeps a few cows and chickens to remind herself of her life growing up in Bosnia.

Back then Hana had another name.  She was Nura Divjak and lived in the mountains of Bosnia with her parents and younger brother.  The family was Muslim but not observant.  When the war started with the Serbians, they hoped that living in the mountains would save them.  But it didn't.  Serbian soldiers drove up one day and killed Nura's family while she watched from a place of concealment.  She made a vow that day.  No matter what it took she would avenge her family.

Nura joined a partisan group after they saw her drive up to a blockade and kill a ranking Serbian officer, one of the men who had killed her family.  The partisans taught her to fight and made her physically fit.  It also led to her first love, another partisan who hoped for a life with Nura after the war.

Since the war, Nura immigrated and became Hana.  Now her best friend from those war years who immigrated with her has been murdered and Hana knows the past is coming for her again.  The detective who informed her of her friend's death suspects Hana knows more than she is telling him and he is correct.  The two begin to have feelings for each other but what relationship can work that starts like this?

Allen Eskens was a criminal defense attorney before he turned to writing.  That probably explains the intricately plotted mysteries he is known for writing.  In this book, he researched by contacting survivors of the Bosnian war in the Muslim community in his area which had been instrumental in helping Serbian Muslim immigrate to the United States.  Hana is a fascinating character and her relationship with the detective is interesting to see develop.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.